Morning.
Chen Baiqing sat cross-legged on her bed, spiritual energy gently fluctuating around her.
After a moment, the spiritual energy settled, and Chen Baiqing slowly opened her eyes.
Though she was traveling and gaining experience, cultivation couldn't be paused. Without spirit stones to fuel her practice, she would spend more time mastering her techniques.
After all, the divine ability her Master had given her would still require a considerable amount of time to fully master.
Although this divine ability was extremely compatible with Chen Baiqing and felt natural to practice, the technique itself was simply too profound.
In truth, the concept of "gaining experience" didn't yield as much for Chen Baiqing as it did for her senior sister or second senior brother.
She understood that this journey was about stepping out of the world described in books, personally experiencing human relationships, and feeling everything beyond what books could teach.
Only by first being able to safely care for herself could she prove she had the ability to be independent.
Yesterday, Chen Baiqing had taken no action, instead asking Li Qiyun in detail about the situation he had investigated in the village.
According to Li Qiyun's two days of observation.
What was eerie about the demonic creature attacks was that, beyond the local creatures, demonic beasts from hundreds of miles away were gathering at a certain location like a migration.
This kind of migration went against most demonic creatures' natural behavior patterns.
Once demonic beasts cultivated to the demon realm and gained clear spiritual awareness, even those with migratory habits would rarely leave their territories without good reason.
Scattered demonic creatures had strong territorial instincts.
Moreover, most demons rarely attacked humans.
Because humans would truly stop at nothing to exact revenge.
Once they gained spiritual intelligence, even if their minds weren't particularly sharp, they could still clearly recognize danger.
The human race had suppressed demons for a thousand years, using methods that were simple and brutal—kill one of ours, and we'll slaughter your entire clan.
This behavior required no trial or judgment. Simply draw a circle around the area and wipe them out.
Naturally, there were always those who lost their minds.
There were also those who didn't care about their lives in pursuit of cultivation advancement.
But these were the minority. Most strange occurrences were not actually caused by demonic creatures—they were humans using demons to create chaos.
Aside from his usual teasing, her Master would also solemnly teach his disciples.
For instance: always prepare for the worst possible outcome, because any reliance on luck was merely human fantasy.
What's more, this particular group of demonic creatures, besides their strange migration, had mostly lost their spiritual intelligence, becoming creatures that only knew how to devour and kill.
They would devour any demonic beast they encountered, at any cost, fearing neither death nor life.
Every one or two days, the sounds of fierce battles between demonic beasts could be heard from deep within the forest.
This village had no cultivators. Generations had farmed this land. Being farmers by trade, they couldn't abandon their already-cultivated fields to leave this place.
The fertile lands outside already had owners.
To transform barren soil into fertile land, the time unit had to be measured in years.
People already struggling at the subsistence level didn't have the courage to make such a decision.
Unless it was a great famine, most people lacked the courage to abandon everything.
Even during great famines, most people would only leave their homeland when the tree bark had been completely eaten and there was truly nothing left.
The current situation wasn't dire enough. As long as the villagers didn't carelessly enter the deep mountains, the demonic creatures hadn't yet launched attacks—perhaps the village happened to be out of their migration path.
But the future was hard to predict. If these matters could be resolved, that would be best.
For ordinary people, this land was their very life.
As for Li Qiyun's words, Chen Baiqing would take them as reference for now. She needed to see the situation firsthand.
Chen Baiqing rose and pushed open the door to step outside.
The courtyard she stayed in was the best in the village, but "best" really just meant an ordinary earthen house—simply one with whitewashed walls, paved floors, and a door that actually looked like a door.
This finest courtyard had four rooms not too far apart and a main hall. Chen Baiqing, Li Qiyun, and Tang Wanjun each occupied one room.
"Good morning."
Li Qiyun sat on a slightly weathered wooden chair with a smile, greeting Chen Baiqing as she emerged.
Tang Wanjun stood slightly further away, holding a slender sword, faint spiritual energy rippling around her as her somewhat immature sword intent slowly receded. Seeing Chen Baiqing come out, she quickly sheathed her sword, showing a slightly shy expression.
She had just entered Foundation Establishment, while Chen Baiqing had revealed her token—at minimum, she was a Golden Core cultivator.
Her own rather immature techniques...
Chen Baiqing paid little attention to Tang Wanjun's awkwardness. After all, even her Golden Core senior brother Li Qiyun was just a watered-down Golden Core in Chen Baiqing's eyes.
That Tang Wanjun was a watered-down Foundation Establishment wasn't much of a problem either.
No wonder her senior sister always said that most people outside the sect were foolish, and the vast majority were weak.
"Good morning. I plan to go into the forest later to check the situation." Chen Baiqing nodded slightly in response. "If there's any new information, I'll let you know."
Li Qiyun stood up. "Why not go together? I've walked that area several times and know it better. Besides, there's safety in numbers."
Chen Baiqing was about to refuse.
But Tang Wanjun spoke in a small voice: "I'll go too. I'm afraid this is human-caused calamity. More people means more protection."
Hearing Tang Wanjun speak, Chen Baiqing looked at her and replied:
"In that case, let's go together."
Chen Baiqing noticed there was something unspoken between the two's relationship. Although her illusory female form wasn't particularly beautiful.
But knowing the principles without acting on them was no different from not knowing at all.
——————
"This is the place where I personally saw two demonic creatures fighting two days ago."
Li Qiming's gaze swept across the area, his spiritual sense extending outward, remaining alert to his surroundings while also protecting Tang Wanjun at his side.
Tang Wanjun was also very well-behaved, standing beside Li Qiming, doing nothing extra and saying nothing unnecessary.
The area was filled with broken tree trunks and scattered pits. Even the slightly curved hillside had been nearly flattened. Even now, traces of soil mixed with the stench of blood still emanated from the pits.
In the depressions, dried blood that hadn't completely faded remained.
Chen Baiqing's gaze swept across, sensing the faint traces of spiritual energy still lingering.
Two demonic beasts at the verge of Foundation Establishment cultivation.
One of them had won... and advanced to Foundation Establishment.
In the next moment, Chen Baiqing suddenly raised her head, looking deep into the forest.
Li Qiming noticed Chen Baiqing's movement and was about to ask, but before he could speak, a fierce beast's roar echoed from deep within the forest, followed immediately by colliding spiritual energies.
Violent crashing sounds erupted.
Chen Baiqing glanced at the two. "I'll go check the situation. You two be careful."
"We'll go together."
Li Qiming responded, then protected Tang Wanjun as he followed Chen Baiqing's movement.
Chen Baiqing's form shifted, and in the next moment she stood atop a large tree, looking down.
Below, a Foundation Establishment wild boar was furiously roaring and charging, while a Foundation Establishment black bear showed no signs of backing down.
Li Qiming arrived a moment later with Tang Wanjun, standing on another tree.
He suggested: "Should we capture one first for study?"
"Let me test it first."
The Azure Sky Treasure Ring on Chen Baiqing's right hand glowed faintly, then grew slightly larger and slipped from her hand.
In the next moment, a beam of azure light flickered from the Azure Sky Treasure Ring.
The wild boar, which had been about to turn and continue its charge at the black bear, suddenly froze.
Its initial angry roaring changed to a somewhat strange grunting.
The bear was even stranger—the stone it had casually picked up to throw at the boar was set down with odd, jerky movements.
Seeing this, Chen Baiqing spoke calmly: "Still has some self-awareness, but not much."
If its self-awareness were complete, that boar should have started rolling like a house cat, and that bear should have sat down like a dog.
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